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Shoot for the Moon

One thing I love about the killer zoom on my camera is the fact that I can pretend that I’m looking through a telescope when I’m photographing the moon. If there’s one thing I love almost as much as macro shots, it’s those ultra zoom shots of the moon. They make me feel like an explorer, or an honorary astronaut. (Except the honor is really all in my head, mostly. Okay, entirely.)

After a bit of trial-and-error and lots and lots of practice, I think I’ve figured out a few basic pointers for shooting the moon. But first, a quick list of necessary equipment. You’ll need: a camera, the moon, and possibly a tripod. That’s it! Now, some professionals will say that you absolutely need a tripod, but I’ve taken moonshots without it and will tell you that sometimes, you can wing it without a tripod.

Tip #1: Focus on the moon! Set your focus to infinity. If you camera does not manually focus, then make sure your autofocus area (in my camera, it’s that little square that turns green when you press the shutter down halfway) is right smack on the moon. This ensures that you will have a moon in focus and not just a great big fuzzy ball of light.

See the photo below? My camera was focused on the trees in the foreground, which gave me that blinding blurry splotch there in place of a nice looking full moon.

Sometimes, it can be a cool effect. But I wanted a shot of the moon that night, not of moonlit trees. So I zoomed in a little bit more to make sure I was focusing on the moon, the whole moon, and nothing but the moon. This gave me a much clearer shot of the moon. (Well, as clear as I could get with those clouds hovering around.)

Even if you’re using a point and shoot that doesn’t have as powerful a zoom, just make sure your camera is focusing on the moon. Be patient; sometimes I have to keep at it several times before my camera locks in on the moon.

Tip #2: Keep it steady. Since you will likely be using a long focal length (which is a fancy way to say you’ll be maxing out your zoom), it’s crucial to keep your camera steady. If you’re using a tripod, either use a remote shutter (I don’t have one) or use the self-timer mode. What you’re trying to avoid here is any residual shake from pressing that shutter button with your finger. A two-second delay should just about be enough to allow for any vibration to die down. I don’t like using my tripod, but sometimes, it’s necessary. Especially when there’s an eclipse, and the full moon isn’t as bright as it usually is.

That was a full second that I had the shutter open, and because it was windy that night, my dinky little tripod moved a little in the wind. Oh well. Nothing much I could have done about that. Except get a decent tripod.

If you’re like me, though, then you’re often too lazy to grab your tripod (which is dinky anyway). And you probably loathe the idea of setting up a tripod out in the cold and standing there repeatedly readjusting your composition, hitting the shutter button, and waiting for the self-timer delay every time you take a shot. It’s torture, I tell you. Self-inflicted torture. And it gets ugly too, once the sniffles start.

I’m not showing you a shot of that.

But what I will do is tell you that it’s okay to handhold your camera. Set it to continuous mode this time, and shoot a handful of shots at a time. Don’t forget Miz Boo’s tip about holding your breath while pressing down that shutter. More than likely, you’ll get at least one extra sharp shot in that group. When you’re done, take a deep breath and shoot another string of photos. The photo below was the fourth in a string of eight shots. Out of a total of close to forty shots that night.

Tip #3: Expose for the moon, not the sky around it. If your camera allows you to do spot metering, take advantage of it and make sure you have it locked on the moon. If you let your camera do average or evaluative metering, the dark sky around the moon may cause your camera to try and balance everything out, giving you an overexposed moon. (I know. I said overexposed moon. Don’t think that I can’t hear you snickering.)

One thing that threw me off when I first started photographing the moon up close is that I was trying to apply everything I knew about night photography. Because, after all, I’m taking the shots at night, right? So my head was telling me that I needed to use my widest aperture setting, the slowest possible shutter speed to let enough light in, and possibly a high ISO setting. But all my initial shots looked awful and overexposed.

Here’s the thing: the moon is, essentially, a sunlit object. That’s sunlight that we see reflecting off its surface. So rather than treating it as a low-light situation, often we have to approach it as if we were photographing something outdoors on a sunny day. Counter-intuitive, isn’t it? But it works. And that’s why it’s possible to handhold your camera. Take, for instance, the shot below.

That was taken with a shutter speed of 1/500, aperture setting of 5.6, and ISO setting of 100. If I tried to let any more light in, the shot would have been overexposed and I would have blown out a lot of the details you can see on the surface of the moon. So if your shots still look too bright, reduce the amount of light you’re letting in. My preference would be to use a faster shutter speed, so there’s less chance of camera shake affecting your shot.

Lastly, if you can’t get a straight, unobstructed view of the moon, don’t despair. Instead, go ahead and stand beneath that maple tree/streetlight/weirdly-shaped thing that’s hopefully not a big ol’ bat ready to attack you. (Sorry. I have issues with bats.) Experiment! Who knows, you might come up with something interesting.

And that’s pretty much it! Now go forth and shoot the moon. Unless it’s cold outside and your resistance is low. In which case, please take a lot of Vitamin C, have some chicken soup, and go take a lie down. Then bundle up and go forth and shoot the moon.

Wish I would’ve had my camera out last night with your tips..beautiful moon.
My tip for shooting the moon is: be quick, drop your pants fast, down then up, so people wonder if they really just saw that. Hee hee haw haw…everyone was thinking it!

http://www.erinseasyeats.com Erin

Any way you could give us the specs on the shot 5th from the top? (Aperture, shutter, etc.) It’s amazing!

mosheep/Denise

What beautiful pictures.

I really enjoy reading your articles.

Denise

http://www.allderphotocards.com Rubberwalls

Thanks again for some wonderful advice – I gave up moon pictures for exactly that reason…nothing but blurry spots in the sky….so out I go again ……however more practicing will have to wait until I get my digitial……

These pictures are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your tips on getting them. I’d love to get some nice shots of the moon.

http://www.chroniclecantrell.blogspot.com Dcan

I too like shooting the moon. Can’t wait to try out these tips!

Rachel

Beautiful!! I have tried before to get shots of the moon but with no luck. Can’t wait to try these tips out!!!!!!!

Cara

I love this! The moon is something I’ve always, always, always wanted to be able to take good pictures off. I still have a pretty mediocre camera, but now at least I have ideas how how to work with it.

Thanks!

~*B*~

wow just beautiful!!

http://etheralchaos.blogspot.com/ rabidparadise

Beautiful pictures and a great tutorial! Thank you Ivoryhut!!

http://www.diebytheblade.com Heather O.

I have to try this!

http://katieslaterphotography.blogspot.com KTBee

Ummm, oh my gosh, these pics are awesome! I have never succeeded when “shooting the moon” I may have to try again!! 🙂

Thanks for the inspiration!

🙂

http://www.booshay.blogspot.com Miz Booshay

Ya know. A point and shoot is cheaper than the Nikkor lens I would need to get these shots!

You really use your camera well!

People have asked me to teach a teen class on photography, and I didn’t think there was anything I could teach without a dsl. Well, look how wrong I was.

You really are awesome!
Thanks!

http://motherbunny.blogspot.com Bunny

These are amazing! What focal length do you mean by “killer zoom” 200mm? 300mm? Just curious.
I’ll be out back trying these on the next clear night.

Cheryl in California

Fantastic photos! …I love “shooting the moon”! Thanks for the tips!

http://laurasfavoritethings.blogspot.com/ Laura

Thanks for all these tips! I can’t wait to try them. Of course, I need to figure out what some of them are. 🙂 I love taking pictures of the moon, I have a Sony DSC-H2 and am just now playing with all the options. I have always just used the auto settings. If the rain moves on, I’ll get out there and play tonight!
~*~